Elmedin "Dino" Konaković (born 3 September 1974) is a Bosnian politician serving as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

since January 2023. He is the founder and president of the

People and Justice People and Justice (, abbreviated NiP) is a centre-right political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The party was founded on 12 March 2018. History People and Justice (NiP) was founded on 12 March 2018, after Elmedin Konaković resigned from al ...

party, and was previously a member of the Federal House of Representatives. Konaković was also a member of the Federal House of Peoples from 2019 to 2022. He served as Premier of Sarajevo Canton from 2015 to 2018 as well.

Early life and education

Konaković was born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1974. He graduated from Electrical Engineering secondary School and, after the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

, from the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education of the

University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo (Bosnian language, Bosnian, Croatian language, Croatian and Serbian language, Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a List of universities in Bo ...

Early career

During the

, Konaković joined the

Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; ARBiH), often referred to as Bosnian Army, was the military force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was established by the government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina i ...

(10th Mountain Brigade and 15th Motorized Brigade) and played in

's famous basketball club,

KK Bosna Košarkaški klub Bosna Royal (), commonly referred to as KK Bosna, currently named Bosna Visit Sarajevo for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the most successful Bosnian cl ...

.Ko je Elmedin Dino Konaković, novi premijer Kantona Sarajevo?
at depo.ba He continued his career in the late 1990s in Slovenia, Hungary and Romania. In 2002, Konaković became director of the

Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national basketball team The Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national basketball team ( Bosnian: ''Košarkaška reprezentacija Bosne i Hercegovine'' / Кошаркашка репрезентација Босне и Херцеговине) represents Bosnia and Herzegovina ...

, and in 2003 director of KK Bosna, a position he held until 2007.Elmedin Konaković
at imovinapoliticara.cin.ba

Political career

In 2004, Konaković joined the

Party of Democratic Action The Party of Democratic Action (; abbr. SDA) is a Bosniak nationalist, conservative political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. History The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) was founded on 26 May 1990 in Sarajevo, as a "party of Muslim cultural ...

(SDA) and was elected to the local council of the Centar municipality in

. At the 2008 municipal elections, he ran for municipal mayor of Centar, but with no success. After the 2010 general election, he entered the Sarajevo Cantonal Assembly and became chair of the SDA MPs caucus. On 23 March 2015, Konaković was appointed Premier of Sarajevo Canton. He was removed from the post in March 2018, after he had decided to leave the SDA. Konaković then set up his own

party, and was elected speaker of the Sarajevo Cantonal Assembly after the 2018 general election, serving until January 2020. Meanwhile, in July 2019, he was appointed to the Federal House of Peoples.

Minister of Foreign Affairs (2023–present)

Appointment

On 25 January 2023, following the formation of a new

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

presided over by

Borjana Krišto Borjana Krišto (; born 13 August 1961) is a Bosnian Croat politician serving as Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina since January 2023. She previously served as the 8th president of the Federation of Bosnia and He ...

, Konaković was appointed as the new

within Krišto's government.

Tenure

On 13 February 2023, Konaković spoke in a telephone call with United States Secretary of State

Antony Blinken Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 71st United States secretary of state from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor, deputy national security advisor ...

, expressing his gratitude for the United States' "commitment to peace, security and stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina." He attended the 59th Munich Security Conference from 17 to 19 February, during which he met with a number of foreign officials from Spain, Sweden, Austria, France and the United Kingdom. On 11 May 2023, Konaković announced that a draft on the law regarding the foreign affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted unanimously at a

session. He would later say that the session was the "most productive one this Council ever had." On 13 June 2023, Konaković met with British Foreign Secretary

James Cleverly Sir James Spencer Cleverly (born 4 September 1969) is a British politician and Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Army Reserve Commissioned officer, officer who served as Home Secretary from November 2023 to July 2024 and as Foreign Secretary (Unit ...

during an official visit to the United Kingdom. They discussed bilateral relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United Kingdom,

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

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integration, regional relations and global security issues. Following a large escalation of the Gaza–Israel conflict in October 2023, Konaković condemned

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

' attacks, but also said that "he never hid his support for the people and the government of Palestine in order to keep and protect the areas they live in, to fight for sovereignty and territorial integrity of their land and protect their religious objects on that area that are of great importance for the faithful from all around the world." In January 2024, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote a letter to Konaković, urging him to "press

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union (, , HDZ) is a major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. Since 2016, it has been the ruling political party in Croatia under the incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. It is one of the ...

leader

Dragan Čović Dragan Čović (; born 20 August 1956) is a Bosnian Croat politician who served as the 4th Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2002 to 2005 and again from 2014 to 2018. He is the current president of the Croatian Dem ...

to end his obstruction on the realization of the Southern Interconnection natural gas pipeline project between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina." In May 2025, Konaković met with British Foreign Secretary

David Lammy David Lindon Lammy FRSA (born 19 July 1972) is a British politician who has served as Foreign Secretary since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenham since 2000. Lammy previously held vario ...

during the latter's state visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Personal life

Konaković has been married to

Al Jazeera Balkans Al Jazeera Balkans (AJB) is an international news television station headquartered in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina aimed at the media markets of the countries that used to be constituent units of SFR Yugoslavia. It is part of the Al Jazeer ...

journalist Dalija Hasanbegović since 2016, and together they have two daughters, Kiana Aja and Kaira Nur. He was previously married with models Aida Osmanović and then with Martina Saira Keškić, divorcing the latter in 2014. Besides his native Bosnian, Konaković speaks English fluently and is conversant in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

References

External links